How to Make $1 Million in a Single Year (Advice From 10 Successful People Who've Actually Done It

I haven't reached this milestone (yet), so I reached out to people who have. Here's their advice.

A million dollars ain’t what it used to be, but it’s still pretty good money--especially if we’re talking about annual income, as opposed to net worth.

So, how do you get to that milestone? Since I haven’t done it myself (yet), I reached out to a group of people who actually have made at least $1 million a year. (Hint: If you didn’t inherit a fortune, it’s all about entrepreneurship.)

Here’s their advice. (Got something to add? Let me know.)

1. Love your customers.
Tim Nguyen, co-founder and CEO of BeSmartee:
“Everything you do should center on your customers. Taking a vacation? Ask yourself how that will affect your customers. … Thinking about revising your employee incentive programs? Consider how that will affect your customers. Don’t worry about the sale, and definitely don’t focus on the money. Focus on your customers.”

2. Solidify your foundation.
Margot Micallef, founder and CEO of Gabriella’s Kitchen:
“A good foundation [includes] a network of investors … or a strong relationship with a banker or institutional lender. … In any situation where I have enjoyed significant returns, it has been based on a foundation built years earlier.”

3. Focus on culture.
Steve Starr of StarrDesign:
“If you get the culture right, the money will come. After buying out my partner, our design firm spent the past two years transforming our approach, process, and firm personality. We increased our gross revenue, while driving our net revenue up by 15 percent to more than $2 million. … In any business, it’s essential to define and keep sight of what inspires your team. Nearly every group begins with passion--and holding on to that passion is vital to success.”

4. Focus on product and metrics.
Simon Slade, CEO and co-founder of Affilorama:
“My best advice for joining the million-dollar-earnings club is to create an awesome product and then continue its growth. Pick a single, straightforward metric, such as sales units or revenue, and aim to beat yesterday’s total every day. This growth strategy is both sustainable and manageable.”

5. Understand other stakeholders’ fears.
Ted Leonhardt, career and negotiation expert:
“Yes, I have made a million or more a year. … I did it by understanding the interpersonal issues that drive all social groups, helping my clients reduce their fear, [and] helping people achieve their goals. My one piece of advice is to truly understand the fear that accompanies spending of large sums, and know how to reduce that fear for your clients.”

6. Be persistent.
Ajay Prasad of GMR Transcription:
“Succeeding in business will be harder, cost more, and take longer than you planned. My advice for success is persistence.”

7. Hustle.
Heidi Burkhart, president of Dane Professional Consulting Group:
“At 21, I got into commercial real estate brokerage in NYC … My first three years I was hustling, working 24/7, and surviving on peanuts … Fourth quarter of my third year, I finally started closing deals. Ever since, my income has consistently been in the six figures, with many 12-month periods producing more than $1 million. … I credit all this, though, to the initial hustle that is now forever embedded in my system.”

8. Grow things organically.
Romy Taormina, “Nausea Relief Chief” at Psi Bands:
“There's no overnight success here. I have led our company organically, and this has kept us in business and allowed us to exceed the $1 million threshold. Case in point: The Psi Bands team pitched our first retailer using a prototype. We landed that account--400 Long's Drugs stores--and garnered a coveted spot in Oprah's Omagazine as an "O Pick.” The associated credibility gave me a great sales opener, and I was able to land more accounts.”

9. Build personal relationships.
Andrew Royce Bauer, CEO of Royce:
Royce is able to make more than $6 million a year by maintaining personal relationships with every single one of our customers. We are a company built on human interaction with our end user … a small amount of really good customers that we truly treat like family rather than trying to be the business that serves everyone.”

10. Stay focused on the ultimate goal.
Zach Halmstad, co-founder and partner of JAMF Software:
My best advice is to stay focused on where you want to be, and not on what could go wrong along the way. … 99 percent of the things that you worry about never happen. It's the things that you don't worry about that actually happen. This has stuck with me.”

One major way that Macbooks will always beat Windows laptops

Even people who don't like mouse touchpads like the MacBook's mouse touchpad.

Beyond the iPhone-friendly features, it's probably the thing I miss most about my MacBook during my ongoing experiment with only using Windows 10.

The MacBook touchpad is a slab of textured glass over metal with a nice grip. The cursor moves smoothly and it recognizes a range of smartphone-like multitouch gestures with no problem. It just "feels" right. 

There's nothing quite like it — and just about every Windows laptop out there falls way short by comparison. A reviewer who rounded up a bunch of Windows 10 laptops for the Wall Street Journal this week found this out the hard way.

I got curious as to why so few Windows laptops can touch what Apple's done with its own touchpad.

Turns out, the answer should have been obvious: Apple's obsessive control over how its products get made.

Since 2008, Apple has held a patent on its touchpad design, covering a bunch of different MacBook models. That patent is both for the process it uses to prepare the glass for that signature texture, as well as the actual mechanical way it clicks down.

It doesn't mean that nobody else can make a trackpad, or a glass trackpad, or even a minor variation on Apple's trackpad. But it means that they can't do it exactly like Apple without risking legal action. 

Kyle Russell/Business InsiderA Dell laptop.

Secondly, and more importantly, Apple takes full charge of the MacBook's design and manufacturing process, from hardware to software. From MacBook to MacBook, the touchpad is exactly the same, and built to the same exact specifications.

It means that Apple has a great basis to make sure that it works really well, all the time. 

Meanwhile, Microsoft is dealing with a moving target. Different laptops have different touchpads. In fact, cost-conscious manufacturers may use two different brands of touchpad from two different suppliers in the same model, as reporter Farhad Manjoo reported back in 2012.

It makes it a lot more complicated for Windows to "talk" to a touchpad. And in the meanwhile, things get lost in translation, metaphorically speaking, resulting in all kinds of erraticism. 

In 2013, Microsoft partnered up with Intel, along with prominent touchpad hardware suppliers Synaptics and Elan, for what it called "Precision Touchpads." With Windows 8.1 and a Precision Touchpad, users would get smoother mouse scrolling and better support for multitouch gestures. 

Steve Kovach/Business InsiderA Microsoft Surface Pro 3.

But because every laptop is slightly different, and because manufactuers like Dell and Lenovo love to put their own software preloaded on the computers that they sell, there were all kinds of compatibility issues.

A laptop can have a Preicison Touchpad, but the software that came preinstalled with their computer may not support it. 

In that scenario, Microsoft can only do so much, since they're not the ones actually making the computers.

It's a big part of why Microsoft pushes its own Surface tablet/laptops so hard: The $129 Surface Type Cover has a trackpad that supports Precision Touchpads, and the touchpad itself is built to Microsoft's exacting specifications. The sales pitch is that it makes for a more ideal Windows 10 experience. 

In the meanwhile, unless Microsoft just bites the bullet and starts making more traditional laptops, the best way to use Windows 10 for that ideal touchpad experience might be with a MacBook.

THE PAYMENTS INDUSTRY EXPLAINED:

The trends creating new winners and losers in the card-processing ecosystem

The payments industry had a huge year in 2014 and it's showing no sign of slowing down. On the one hand tech giants like Amazon and Apple released new products that affirmed their long-term payments ambitions (Apple Pay and Amazon Local Register). On the other hand startups such as Stripe and ShopKeep continued to carve out market share, challenging older players like PayPal and VeriFone. 

Understanding this complex and rapidly evolving space can be challenging. In  this explainer BI Intelligence offers a high-level look at the payments industry — how it functions, who the key players are, and the trends shaping the industry. We start by explaining payment-card processing, since the majority of consumer payments and transaction volume flow through this system. From there we take a look at how consumers' move to mobile devices is changing the way we pay, and which players stand to benefit.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• The ecosystem for credit- and debit-card processing involves a complicated set of players interacting to process every transaction. Five types of players are involved: acquirers/processors, issuers, card networks, gateway providers, and independent sales organizations (ISOs). 
• To process a typical transaction, three steps must occur: authorizing, batching, and funding. Each participant in this process takes a fee off of the total volume of a transaction. The remainder is deposited in a merchant's account.
• Three trends will shape the payment-card-processing ecosystem from 2015 onward: the EMV security migration, rapid development of new payment technologies, and the massive card-fraud problem in the US. While none of these developments will completely upend the incumbent system for processing payments, each will disrupt key players.
• The mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) is going to have a massive impact on the payments-hardware and payments-software industry. By 2019, we forecast that nearly 80% of US retailers will have implemented a mPOS device. The move to mPOS will continue to put pressure on hardware providers that compete directly against mPOS devices, as well as ISOs that sell legacy devices to merchants.
• While the payment-card-processing system as a whole isn't in danger, the proliferation of mobile devices will have a significant effect on the way we pay.

5 Money Lessons You Can Learn From 50 Cent's Bankruptcy

If you have seen any celebrity news stories lately, chances are you’ve heard about the 50 Cent bankruptcy story. The famed rapper and music mogul shocked fans around the globe when he announced he would be filing for bankruptcy. This move brought about a number of questions from both the public and financial gurus alike who wanted to know “how does someone who makes so much money end up bankrupt?”

Here are some tips I have that can help anyone, no matter what their income may be, to make certain that they do not end up bankrupt like 50 Cent.

1. Make sure to save.

If and when you start making a lot of money, make sure that you are making smart decisions with the income you are using. It can be tempting to make lots of big ticket purchases, but you need to put some of that money away for a rainy day. One of 50 Cent’s biggest mistakes is that he immediately started spending money on cars, jewelry and an entourage without ever putting savings away for an emergency. If he would have saved for a rainy day, things may have turned out much differently for the rapper.

2. Remember what you have to lose.

Having a lot of money is a double-edged sword. If you make a lot of money, do not start fights with random individuals. Remember, you actually have something to lose. People file lawsuits every day, particularly against people with a lot of money. This was a problem that 50 Cent kept running into; he kept facing lawsuits and ended up paying a great deal of money because of petty conflicts.

3. Do not talk about your money publicly.

Talking about your wealth publicly is putting your money at risk. If you are out in the open about how much you have, you are just asking for trouble. Keep quiet about your finances. Protect the money you have when you have it so you don’t have to worry about others coming after it.

4. Don’t tie your entire brand to money.

Many people put their money at risk. In fact, this is one of the ways that so many people are able to turn the money they have into more money. However, if you are going to put your money at risk, do not tie your entire brand to that alone. You can use money as a starting point, but make sure that you build off of it. This is a philosophy that I have found to be very important, particularly with some of my most successful students.

5. Think about the investments you make.

There are so many potential investments out there that sound glamorous and may try to pull you in. Things like clothing, alcohol, television and movies may sound glamorous, but they are also very dangerous. Just because they are glamorous doesn’t mean they are smart investments. Stick to better paying industries like finance and technology. They may not seem as fun, but if you take the time to research these industries, do the necessary studying and make smart investments, you will be better off in the long run.

50 Cent was someone who only tried to make glamorous investments. He should have learned from Ashton Kutcher and his tech startup investing -- those are comparatively much more sound investments.

People ask me all the time what the best investment is and I say the same thing every time -- yourself. You need to learn to be self-sufficient with your finances, that way you NEVER risk losing it all like so many celebrities and athletes who rely on others, some of whom lead them astray. I'm entirely self-taught, I aim to be the mentor to people that I never had. Mentors can help save you from situations like this, consider getting one ASAP!

What Font Should You Use on Your Resume?

When you're job hunting, the devil is in the details -- from making the right connections, to doing your research and assembling a resume that gets you noticed. But just like your body language can speak louder than words during an interview, it turns out that the font you use in your CV says something about you, too, according to a recent Bloomberg report.

So what typefaces should you use to put your best foot forward? Not Times New Roman, as it turns out. Brian Hoff, the creative director of Brian Hoff Design, likened the usage of the often default font to wearing sweatpants, as it doesn't show a lot of forethought or effort.

Related: 5 Huge Resume Blunders -- and How to Avoid Them

Fancy interconnected cursive that you would see on a wedding announcement like Zapfino (way too tough to read) or fonts like Courier, which looks like it was typewritten and can convey pretentiousness.  Matt Luckhurst, the creative director of San Francisco, Calif.-based brand consultancy Collins noted “You don’t have a typewriter, so don’t try to pretend that you have a typewriter.” 

As for the fonts that communicate a clean, straightforward and professional image, the experts agreed that typefaces that are sans-serif (no little fusty feet at the end of the letters) and aesthetically pleasing like Helvetica and Garamond are a solid bet for those resumes.

Related: The Do's and Don'ts of the Modern Resumé (Infographic)

And while Comic Sans -- everyone's favorite font-punching bag -- is never welcome, apparently utilizing emojis to show a little personality might be -- depending on who you're talking to.  

Ultimately, when you're looking for a new position, you send out countless cover letters and resumes, but you wouldn't send the same one to every firm or company that you are hoping will give you a second look. And just like you would tailor your CV, different fonts will make more of an impact depending on the industry. 

You Disabled Flash In Your Browsers, But Is That Enough?

A growing number of researchers and analysts recommend disabling the Flash plugin in your web browsers due to ongoing security problems. Perhaps you already did that and you may think your computers are now immune to Flash exploits. But maybe not.

Flash files can not only be embeded in a web page but also in various document formats such as Microsoft Office documents and PDF files. Even if you have disabled Flash in your browsers, Flash exploits can still leverage Flash player vulnerabilities through software like Microsoft Office and Adobe Reader. Let's do some tests. I will use the PoC of CVE-2015-5122 from the Hacking Team in my test. It will pop up the calculator program when loaded in browsers and other applications that have a vulnerable Flash plugin enabled.

First I craft a PPT document with PowerPoint 2013 as shown in the image below.

When I view slide show this document the calculator program pops up on my computer as shown in the image below.

Next I craft a PDF file with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC 2015 as shown in the image below.

The calculator program pops up on my computer when I insert the Flash exploit. I close the PDF file then open it again. The calculator program pops up again when I click the play button.

There is no need to modify the Flash exploit at all. It works well inside a PPT and PDF document until I uninstall the Flash player on my computer.

It is worth noting that this particular exploit (and others like it) can be blocked by Microsoft's Enhanced Mitigation Experience Kit , but this software is not exactly universal in its deployment and this is just one simple example of ways in which Flash can be exploited outside of a web browser.

What all this means, unfortunately, is that disabling the Flash plugin in your browsers isn't a complete solution to Flash security. Flash is a technology that can be embedded in many places and requires vigilance on the part of users as well as smart edge and endpoint protection and rigorously patched software to ensure that Flash exploits don't end up on your network.

Google Auto-complete And What It Means For Your SEO

Is it love, or is it Google's auto-complete?

There comes a time in everyone's life when they find someone so compatible that each partner begins finishing the sentences of the other. Is it because their minds are so alike, or that they know one another so well?
Sometimes this relationship exists outside of the bond between two people, and instead becomes a connection between a person and their search engine.

Google introduced its auto-complete function in an effort to take away some of the burdens in the lives of web users everywhere. Why should someone have to stumble over completing a search query when based on their past browsing history, recent searches, and data from their local area a suggestion might be offered to them? Why make someone type out a full query when the same information cited in the previous example could be used again to save the user precious seconds of their time?

What does this mean for your SEO?

While the auto-complete function of Google searches has made for some pretty hilarious results, there is more to it than simply a list of suggestions that range from useful to absolutely absurd. At the end of this particular rainbow there is a pot of SEO gold.

 

The first thing a user sees when searching for your brand are the suggestions presented by the auto-complete aspect of a Google search. These simple fill-in-the-blank style suggested queries could mean everything for your business. If the majority of the suggestions mention scams, hoaxes, and other PR nightmares, chances are people aren't going to continue their search, especially if they were going to find more information on your brand with the intent of making a purchase in the near future!
If you're seeing some not-so-amazing things pop up in the auto-complete area when you're searching for your brand, here are a few things that you can do to help increase the odds that good things will start showing up there instead:

• Step up your searches - And if you can, ask your friends, family, and co-workers to search too! What we mean by this is you are going to need to start searching for more positive queries related to your brand. Instead of "Brand X Scam Warning" search for "Brand X Mission Statement" or "New Product Releases by Brand X Get Rave Reviews" and so on.
• Use social media to make a statement - Social signals area hot topic, but they aren't all that's important about the use of social media for SEO. Having an active, positive social presence is always a good thing, and more activity means more potential for positive mentions of your brand.
• Create positive content on the web - While we don't suggest going out and making a bunch of stand-along websites or random pages on your website, we do think that you should be making an effort to put more positive content out there about your business. Tell people about all of the good things you've been doing as a company and let them know that you mean business!
• Visibility Boost - RankPop has developed this to do the two main factors which is creating quality content and using social media to then promote.  The bottom line is SEO is now about creating brand awareness and getting in front of your potential customers.

Someday, Your Facebook Friends May Determine Whether You Get a Loan

It’s no secret that Facebook has been gathering data about its users for years and uses that data to tailor the ads its serves them.

One day, it may also use that data to approve — or deny — its users a financial loan.

On Tuesday, the social network was granted a patent for authorizing and authenticating a user based on their social network on Facebook, as first spotted by SmartUp Legal. Though the document details multiple applications for the patent, including filtering out SPAM and helping with search queries, it also explicitly states that it could be used to approve a loan based on a user’s social connections:

When an individual applies for a loan, the lender examines the credit ratings of members of the individual’s social network who are connected to the individual through authorized nodes. If the average credit rating of these members is at least a minimum credit score, the lender continues to process the loan application. Otherwise, the loan application is rejected.

The patent is actually part of the portfolio Facebook purchased from Friendster — arguably the first modern social network — for $40 million in 2010. Friendster’s then-VP of engineering Christopher Lunt is cited as the inventor, and he’s now at health insurance shopping site GetInsured.

Though it’s unclear whether Facebook will ever use this patent for that application, as companies often file more than they actually put to use, it could have serious implications for certain people if it does. Using social media data isn’t exactly new — modern consumer lenders such as Affirm already take non-traditional data to estimate credit risk. Implementing this patent could help provide alternative lending, and it could also make it easier for predatory lenders to reach vulnerable people if the method described above is all that’s necessary for the loan.

Windows 10 will cost $119 if you're not eligible for Microsoft's free upgrade

Most people will get it free, but if not, it'll cost the same as Windows 8

Microsoft is giving the bulk of its Windows users a free upgrade to Windows 10 so long as they update within the first year. But for people who aren't eligible for that promotion, the company is maintaining status quo on single license pricing. If you've got an outdated version of Windows (anything older than 7) or build your own PCs, Microsoft's latest release will cost $119. That's for Windows 10 Home, and the Pro tier will be priced higher at $199. Windows 10 Home is the right choice for almost everyone, but if you need a feature that's only available in Pro, you can step up later by purchasing a $99 Windows 10 Pro Pack.

These prices are largely identical to those Microsoft chose for Windows 8. So while the free upgrade is a stellar deal for anyone that's kept up with the Windows release cycle, those planning to build their own system in the coming months and consumers who lack an eligible PC won't be seeing the same perks. (You can purchase most any new PC right now and get the free jump to Windows 10.) Microsoft plans to offer Windows 10 single licenses both online and in retail stores. The major operating system update is slated to launch on July 29th.

Build That Subscriber List: 5 Places For Your Sign Up Boxes

As an entrepreneur, you must know the importance of building a list. Without a list, you may be building nothing that lasts. You may be getting the sales but how much more could you be getting if you got very deliberate about growing your contact database. One of the quickest ways to grow your profits is to get your customers to buy and buy again from you.

Are you doing that? No, then you are leaving money on the table.

Here are a few key places to put your sign up box in order to get more people signing up to your subscriber list.

1. Your Home Page
   Do not let your prospects pass go without being shown your sign up box. As soon as they pop on over to your site, make sure it is the first thing that they see. Make it compelling - Offer a free giveaway that actually gets attention.


2. A feature box
   If your technical skill is up to it, get a feature box that tops every single page of your website or blog so that again, your prospects do not miss an opportunity to sign up for your list. If you are not technical, then get someone who is to help you out. It is worth paying out a little to make sure you are obtaining every single subscriber that you can. The money really is in your list.


3. The Top Of Your Sidebar
   Make it a priority item on your website. Let most pages have the sidebar on it and right at the top, ensure there is a way for your people to sign up to your list.


4. At the bottom of every post
   Again, make sure that there is a call to action on every post. Where possible, make the call to action specific to the detail in the post. Make it something that your people will fall over themselves to get access to, having read the post. You might even want to offer the post itself as a downloadable PDF. Ultimately test various ways to get people to respond and join your list.


5. In the middle of every post
   It is not overkill to break posts up with a call to action to join your mailing list. Have some HTML prepared so that you are ready to use it to get people onto your list without causing you to lose your line of thought when writing your blog post. Use the words "Just before you carry on reading, would you like more information on_______________, pop over here to get _________________" and then carry on with the post. Test and see how effective this is at building your list by having a different sign up box for each area on your site and keep a document open with the different HTML codes for each area. That way, you can see what is working and what is not working.